1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cut-off machine and more specifically, to a fence assembly for a cut-off machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 8, a conventional cut-off machine 50 includes a worktable 51, a saw arm 52, a saw blade 53 and a fence assembly 60. The worktable 51 may be made in a fixed form or rotatable form. The worktable 51 shown in FIG. 8 is a rotatable form, including a rotating table 54 and a fixed table 55. The fence assembly 60 is installed on the fixed table 55 and extends over the rotating table 54, and further having a lateral side perpendicular to the top surface of the rotating table 54. The saw arm 52 has one end pivotally or rotatably connected to the rear side of the rotating table 54, and the other end holding the saw blade 53. The workpiece to be cut is placed on the worktable 51 at a suitable location. When lowering the saw arm 52, the saw blade 53 cuts the workpiece. For accurate cutting, the workpiece must be stopped against the fence assembly 60. The fence assembly 60 holds the workpiece disposed in place, as a reference for positioning. Based on the reference position at the fence assembly 60 being correlated to match with graduations 56 on the front edge of the fixed table 55 and an indicator 57 on the front side of the rotating table 54, the user can know the cutting angle of the saw blade 53 and can rotate the rotating table 54 to adjust the cutting angle.
Referring to FIG. 8 again, the fence assembly 60 is adjustable in length to fit different workpieces having different lengths and dimensions. The fence assembly 60 includes a top fence plate 61 and a bottom fence plate 62. The top fence plate 61 is above the top side of the bottom fence plate 62, and movable along the bottom fence plate 62 to adjust the length of the fence assembly 60. As shown in FIG. 7, the bottom fence plate 62 defines a sliding groove 621. The top fence plate 61 has a bottom extension 611 inserted into the sliding groove 621 of the bottom fence plate 62, and a locating groove 612 formed on the right side of the bottom extension 611. A first bolt 63 is fastened to the right side of the bottom fence plate 62 and inserted into the locating groove 612 of the top fence plate 61. A second bolt 64 is screwed through the left side of the bottom fence plate 62 and stopped against the left side of the bottom extension 611. When the second bolt 64 is loosened, the top fence plate 61 is unfixed and movable along the sliding groove 621 of the bottom fence plate 62. When the second bolt 64 is fastened or tightened, the second bolt 64 presses bottom extension 611 of the top fence plate 61 against the bottom fence plate 62. When operating the fence assembly 60, the user must move their hand between the top fence plate 61 and the second bolt 64. According to this design, it is time-consuming to adjust the length of the fence assembly 60.